2018 CONIFA World Football Cup qualification

2018 CONIFA World Football Cup qualification
Tournament details
Dates 6 January 2016 –
Teams 23 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played 50
Goals scored 189 (3.78 per match)
Top scorer(s) Tamil Eelam Panushanth Kulenthiran (6 goals)

The 2018 CONIFA World Football Cup qualification was the process to decide a number of the teams that will play in the 2018 CONIFA World Football Cup. This is the second tournament to feature a qualification process, following on from the 2016 qualification. The first qualification match played was on 13 March 2016 between the Tamil Eelam team and the team representing the Romani people, with the first goal scored by Tamil Eelam's Panushanth Kulenthiran.

Background

The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) was founded in June 2013, as an organisation to represent football associations that are not eligible or choose not to join FIFA.[1] One year later, it held its first official tournament, the 2014 ConIFA World Football Cup, in Sweden, to which the twelve participating teams were invited. The success of this tournament led to the decision to make it a biannual competition, with continental tournaments taking place in between, the first of which was the 2015 ConIFA European Football Cup.

ConIFA published a set of qualification criteria for the World Football Cup ahead of its 2017 Annual General Meeting, setting out the various methods in which teams could qualify for the WFC.[2] This was subsequently revised into an official version for publication in June 2017.[3]

  • Host – Barawa
  • World Football Cup Holder – Abkhazia
  • Wild Card – CONIFA's Executive Committee were required to give a Wild Card place to a team that has not yet qualified for the WFC no later than 9 months prior to the start of the tournament - this was given to Western Armenia. The Committee also had the right to issue a second Wild Card if approved by CONIFA's Annual General Meeting, which occurred and was given to Tibet.
  • Qualification tournament – Any member of CONIFA had the right to request that a tournament it hosts be sanctioned as a qualifier, providing it is held between 1 January of the year of the previous WFC, and 31 December of the year before the next WFC, and consists of at least four CONIFA members. The request to have the tournament sanctioned as a qualifier must be submitted at least two months prior to the start, and must be approved by CONIFA's Executive Committee. Three such tournaments were held, the ConIFA Challenger Cup, the Hungary Heritage Cup and the World Unity Cup 2016.
  • Continental tournament – If a ConIFA continental championship is held after the previous WFC, then a number of its participants qualify for the WFC; the total qualifiers is worked out by the number of participants in the tournament divided by 4. Only one such tournament was held, the ConIFA European Football Cup 2017 at which both the winner and runner-up qualified.
  • Qualification points – The remaining places (which numbered 8) were distributed according to the final positions in the various CONIFA continental rankings according to their accumulated ranking points, distributed by a system which rewarded playing matches against both CONIFA and other opponents. Where two or more teams from the same continental zone had the same number of qualification points, qualification was be determined by the CONIFA World Rankings.

CONIFA is split into six continental zones, with the total number of places in the World Football Cup based on the number of CONIFA members from each zone. As of October 2018, the distribution of places for the WFC, dependent on the size of the final tournament, is:[2]

No of finals spotsEuropeAsiaAfricaOceaniaNorth AmericaSouth America
12532110[a]
1683311

[a]: There are no South American members of ConIFA as of October 2018
The first qualifying process was undertaken for the 2016 ConIFA World Football Cup, which saw a series of friendly matches and tournaments, together with the 2015 ConIFA European Football Cup, designated as qualifiers for the 2016 WFC.[4][5][6] However, this decision was taken at a late stage prior to the start of the European Football Cup tournament, only a year prior to the planned start of the 2016 WFC in Abkhazia. As a consequence, for its 2018 WFC tournament, ConIFA began designating planned friendly matches as qualifiers from the beginning of 2016, allowing a greater time for those teams achieving qualification to plan for the tournament. The first of these was the ConIFA Challenger Cup, held in Remscheid on 12 and 13 March 2016.[7]

Qualified teams

Team Region Method of
qualification		 Date of
qualification		 Finals
appearance		 Previous
appearance		 Previous best
performance		 Notes
 Tamil Eelam Asia ConIFA Challenger Cup winners 13 March 2016 2nd 2014 11th place (2014)
 Abkhazia Europe ConIFA World Football Cup Winners 6 June 2016 3rd 2016 Winners (2016)
Felvidék Europe Hungary Heritage Cup winners 3 August 2016 1st N/A N/A
Western Armenia Europe Wild Card 14 January 2017 2nd 2016 Quarter-Final (2016)
Barawa Africa Host 8 June 2017 1st N/A N/A
 Tibet Asia Wild Card 8 June 2017 1st N/A N/A
 Kiribati Oceania Regional qualification 8 June 2017 1st N/A N/A
 Cascadia North America Regional qualification 8 June 2017 1st N/A N/A
 Padania Europe ConIFA European Football Cup Winners 10 June 2017 3rd 2016 4th Place (2016)
 Northern Cyprus Europe ConIFA European Football Cup Runners Up 10 June 2017 2nd 2016 3rd Place (2016)
Sikh Empire Panjab Asia Regional qualification 2 September 2017 2nd 2016 2nd Place (2016)
Korea United Koreans of Japan Asia Regional qualification 2 September 2017 2nd 2016 Quarter-Final (2016)
Matabeleland Africa Regional qualification 2 September 2017 1st N/A N/A
Kabylie Kabylie Africa Regional qualification 2 September 2017 1st N/A N/A
Isle of Man Ellan Vannin Europe Regional qualification 2 September 2017 2nd 2014 2nd Place (2014)
Székely Land Székely Land Europe Regional qualification 2 September 2017 2nd 2016 Placement Round (2016)

Qualification

ConIFA Challenger Cup

The ConIFA Challenger Cup was a two team competition held over two days. The two participants, Tamil Eelam and Romani people, each played a 45-minute match against a local select side from the town of Remscheid, where the tournament was being held, on the first day, before playing off against each other on the second.[8]

Hungary Heritage Cup

The Hungary Heritage Cup was a four-team competition held at the beginning of August 2016 in Szarvas, celebrating the heritage of various members of the Hungarian diaspora. The four teams featured two current members of ConIFA, together with two other teams, with the winner qualifying for the World Football Cup.

World Unity Cup 2016

The World Unity Cup was planned as a four-team tournament held at the end of August 2016 in Sutton. The competition was organised jointly by three ConIFA members representing displaced peoples, with the winner qualifying for the World Football Cup.[9]

Subsequent to the announcement, both Darfur and Ellan Vannin withdrew, and the tournament was reorganized as a three-team event, with the Barawa team replacing them.[10]

ConIFA European Football Cup 2017

The 2017 European Football Cup was announced in January 2017 with a total of eight teams due to take part. The winner of the competition was guaranteed a place at the World Football Cup.

Key to colours in group tables
Teams that advanced to the semi-finals

Group A

Team Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
 Northern Cyprus (Q) 3 2 1 0 9 0 +9 7
 Abkhazia (Q) 3 1 2 0 4 3 +1 5
Kárpátalja 3 1 1 1 6 4 +2 4
 South Ossetia 3 0 0 3 2 14 −12 0

Group B

Team Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
 Padania (Q) 3 2 1 0 4 1 +3 7
Székely Land (Q) 3 1 1 1 6 5 +1 4
Isle of Man Ellan Vannin 3 1 0 2 3 5 −2 3
Felvidék 3 1 0 2 1 3 −2 3

Knockout stages

Qualification points standing

The following is a list of games not part of sanctioned ConIFA tournaments for which teams have accrued qualifying points:α


As of October 2018:[12]

Key: Qualification for WFC
RankingEuropeAsiaAfricaNorth AmericaOceaniaQualification points
Opposition Factor (OF)Result Factor (RF)
1 Ellan Vannin (52 pts) United Koreans of Japan (27 pts) Kabylie (30 pts) Cascadia (0 pts)

 Quebec (0 pts)

 Kiribati (0 pts)

 Tuvalu (0 pts)

ConIFA Member = 3Win = 3
2 Szekely Land (39 pts) Panjab (18 pts) Matabeleland (30 pts)Other international opposition = 2Draw = 2
3 Karpatalya (36 pts) Iraqi Kurdistan (15 pts) Somaliland (30 pts)Any other opposition = 1Loss = 1
4 Occitania (34 pts) Ryukyu (3 pts) Chagos Islands (18 pts)Points for a single match = OF × RF
5 Greenland (32 pts) Arameans Suryoye (0 pts)

Uyghurs (0 pts)

Lezgians (0 pts)

Rohingya (0 pts)

Tibet (0 pts)

 Darfur (5 pts)
  • Matches played in WFC do not count towards qualification points totals.
  • Only the first two matches between teams accrue points.
  • Additional matches are only considered if played as part of a tournament.
  • Only the ten matches where a team accrued the most points are considered.
  • If a member hosts a continental championship during the qualifying period,
    it receives additional points (number of participants × 3).
6 Donetsk PR (21 pts) Western Sahara (2 pts)
7 Delvidek (15 pts) Zanzibar (0 pts)

Barotseland (0 pts)

8 South Ossetia (12 pts)
9 Raetia (9 pts)
10 Luhansk PR (6 pts)
11 Romani people (6 pts)
12 County of Nice (3 pts)
13 Western Armenia (1 pt)
14 Franconia (0 pts)

Heligoland (0 pts)

Monaco (0 pts)

Nagorno-Karabakh (0 pts)

Sapmi (0 pts)

Skaneland (0 pts)

Transnistria (0 pts)

ConIFA World Rankings
1. Occitania
2.Sikh Empire Panjab
3. Northern Cyprus
4. County of Nice
5. Abkhazia
6. Iraqi Kurdistan
7. Greenland
8. Arameans Suryoye
9. Padania
10.Isle of Man Ellan Vannin
11. Artsakh
12. Quebec
13. Zanzibar
14. Sápmi
15.Korea United Koreans of Japan
16.Luhansk People's Republic Luhansk PR
17. Székely Land
Western Armenia Western Armenia
19. Tamil Eelam
20. Monaco
21. Felvidék
22. Romani people
23.Franconia Franconia
24. South Ossetia
25. Somaliland
26. Chagos Islands
27. Raetia
28. Kiribati
29. Darfur
30. Tibet

:1.^α Teams that have already qualified no longer accrue qualification points

Wild Card

In May 2017, CONIFA announced on its website that five of its members had completed the necessary process to be considered for the WFC Wild Card place by the deadline of 2 May 2017. The wild card spot was decided at the CONIFA Executive Committee meeting, held during the European Football Cup in Northern Cyprus. The five teams under consideration were:[13]

TeamZone
 DarfurAfrica
 Western Sahara
 KiribatiOceania
 Tuvalu
 TibetAsia

At the Executive Committee meeting, held in Northern Cyprus on 8 June 2017, Tibet were awarded the Wild Card place.

Top goalscorers

6 goals
5 goals
  • Barna Bajko
4 goals
3 goals
  • Tamil Eelam Gvinthan Navaneethakrishnan
  • Tamil Eelam Sujan Sivanesamurthy
  • Korea On-Song Tae
  • Isle of Man Sean Doyle
  • Renàto Meszlènyi
  • Northern Cyprus Ertaç Taşkıran
  • Northern Cyprus Halil Turan
  • Padania Andrea Rota
2 goals
  • J. Sufi
  • Western Armenia Vahagn Militosyan
  • Sikh Empire Terlochan Singh
  • Sikh Empire Rajpal Virk
  • Occitania Guillaume Lafuente
  • Occitania Mathieu Irigoyemboyde
  • Occitania Mickael Bertini
  • Isle of Man Furo Davies
  • Isle of Man Ciaran McNulty
  • Korea Yuuki Gomi
  • David Zoller
  • Abkhazia Anatoli Semyonov
  • Northern Cyprus Mustafa Yasinses
  • Northern Cyprus İbrahim Çıdamlı
  • Zakarpattia Oblast Krisztián Mile
  • Padania William Rosset
  • Greenland Norsaq Lund Mathæussen
  • Western Sahara Mohamed Boglaida
1 goal
  • Grmawi Eyob
  • Sandor Mindlecz
  • Daniel Pozsár
  • Norbert Könyves
  • Zoltán Nagy
  • László Szőcs
  • Silion Petru
  • Gabor Renczés
  • Ádám Érsek
  • Zoltan Magyar
  • Kalmar Lajos
  • Mèszàros David
  • Nemeth Zoli
  • Lajos Kalmar
  • György Pragai
  • Jozsef Katona
  • David Meszaros
  • Richard Krizan
  • Tamil Eelam Johnath Chandran
  • Tamil Eelam Ragvan Prashanth
  • Tamil Eelam Prabashan
  • Chagos Archipelago Didier Gaspard
  • Chagos Archipelago Mervin Bhujan
  • Chagos Archipelago Hansley Robertson
  • Chagos Archipelago Diveeyen Sooprayen
  • Sikh Empire Aaron Minhas
  • Sikh Empire Karum Shanker
  • Sikh Empire Amar Purewal
  • Sikh Empire Rio Riaz
  • Occitania Quentin Chalut Natal
  • Occitania Boris Massarè
  • Occitania Pierre Barremaecker
  • Occitania Brice Martinez
  • Isle of Man Frank Jones
  • Isle of Man Ste Whitley
  • Isle of Man Dan Simpson
  • Isle of Man Sean Quaye
  • Isle of Man Liam Cowin
  • Isle of Man Chris Bass
  • Korea Lee Seong-Cheol
  • Korea Kang Awe
  • Korea Akimoto Kaijin
  • Korea Lee Yoshiaki
  • Donetsk People's Republic Vladislav Klyuyev
  • Luhansk People's Republic Valeriy Titarenko
  • Northern Cyprus Serhan Önet
  • Northern Cyprus Uğur Gök
  • Abkhazia Dmitri Kortava
  • Abkhazia Ruslan Shoniya
  • South Ossetia Alan Kadjaev
  • South Ossetia Solsan Kochiev
  • Zakarpattia Oblast David Robert
  • Zakarpattia Oblast Ohar Roman
  • Zakarpattia Oblast Zoltan Baksa
  • Zakarpattia Oblast Kész Tibor
  • Padania Ersid Pllumbaj
  • Greenland Niels Svane
  • Greenland Nukannguaq Zeeb
  • Greenland Johan Bistrup
  • Greenland Malik Juhl
  • Western Sahara Hamid Mohammed
  • Own Goal

References

  1. ↑ "About Us". CONIFA. Confederation of independent Football Associations. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 "CONIFA World Football Cup Qualification Guidelines" (PDF). conifa.org. CONIFA. October 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  3. ↑ "World Football Cup Qualification System". CONIFA. Confederation of Independent Football Associations. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  4. ↑ "European Football Cup 2015". ConIFA. Confederation of independent Football Associations. 27 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  5. ↑ "Ellan Vannin to host tournament at end of month". Yorkshire Evening Post. 13 May 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-07-15. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  6. ↑ "Benedikt Fontana Cup". ConIFA. Confederation of Independent Football Associations. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  7. ↑ "ConIFA Challenger Cup 2016". Facebook. 3 March 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  8. ↑ "Remscheid Challenger Cup Day 1:". Facebook. ConIFA. 12 March 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  9. ↑ "World Unity Cup". Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  10. ↑ "World Unity Cup media pack" (PDF). World Unity Cup. iACT. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  11. ↑ "Decisions tournament management". 2016 Europeada. Archived from the original on 1 July 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  12. ↑ CONIFA 2018 World Football Cup Qualification
  13. ↑ Wheelock, Noah (9 May 2017). "Five Teams Vying for 2018 World Football Cup "Wild Card" Spot". ConIFA. Confederation of Independent Football Associations. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
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